POTTSVILLE SERIES

in geology, division of the Late Carboniferous Epoch (320 to 286 million years ago). It was named for exposures studied in the region of Pottsville, in the anthracite coal district of Pennsylvania. Found from Pennsylvania to Ohio and from Maryland to Virginia, the Pottsville Series is the lowermost major division of the Pennsylvanian in the area and underlies rocks of the Allegheny Series. It has been divided into three groups of strata that attain an aggregate thickness of about 1,100 metres (3,600 feet) and consist largely of sandstones, shales, coal beds, and some limestones. Pottsville coals frequently are of substantial economic significance. A number of cyclothems, rhythmically alternating stratigraphic sequences, occur in the Pottsville Series. Abundant terrestrial plant remains have been useful in stratigraphic correlation and provide a glimpse of environmental conditions during Pottsville time.